


Permanent

by Reki-L2S (crimsonherbarium)



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Banter, Canon Compliant, Domestic, Established Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom, Fluff without Plot, Hair Dyeing, Hair Washing, I love the two of them so much it hurts, Kissing, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Slice of Life, Tenderness, i guess?, welcome to my very specific headcanon of joe and cherry dyeing each other's hair for the last decade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29826252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonherbarium/pseuds/Reki-L2S
Summary: “You could always get this done at a salon, you know,” Kojiro said offhandedly as he painted, not taking his eyes off the brush. “I know you can afford it.”“My work schedule is demanding. I don’t know any salons that are reliably open past midnight.”“You set your own hours, idiot.” Kojiro shook his head. “There’ve gotta be people out there better at this than me.”“Probably,” Kaoru admitted. “This is the way we’ve always done it, though. Do you really want to stop?”
Relationships: Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 19
Kudos: 244
Collections: Discord Community Archive





	Permanent

“I still don’t understand why this had to be tonight,” Kaoru griped, dipping the brush into the bowl of dye and starting on the next section of hair. “Some of us have clients to meet in the morning, you know.”

Kojiro hummed indifferently. “The tournament starts tomorrow, doesn’t it? We have to look our best.”

“And why my place, then?”

“My bathroom’s too small. You should know, after all—”

“Stop moving,” Kaoru snapped, tugging at the strand he was holding. “If I’m not paying attention, it won’t be even.”

“It’s _hair,_ not calligraphy.”

“And you’ll whine all the same if your roots are showing after I rinse it out.”

Kojiro shrugged, yawning. “Whatever you say, _Sensei.”_

“If you fall asleep, I’m dyeing your eyebrows red.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.” 

Kaoru daubed green dye into the last section of hair and then stood back to survey his handiwork. No missed strands; he was meticulous to a fault. A consequence of doing brushwork for a living, in addition to doing this for Kojiro once a month for the last twelve years.

“You finished yet?” Kojiro drawled, turning to glance at Kaoru over his shoulder. 

“Yes.” He set the bowl aside on the counter and stripped off the pair of rubber gloves.

“Thanks, four-eyes.” Kojiro grinned at the scowl on Kaoru’s face and stood. “Your turn.”

With a long-suffering sigh, Kaoru sat in the chair, still warm from Kojiro’s body, and waited while he mixed the dye. “I only need the roots touched up,” he said, watching Kojiro out of the corner of his eye. “Don’t touch anything else.”

“You sure about that? You’ve got some fading back here.” Kojiro combed through Kaoru’s hair loosely with his fingers and separated a section from the back, holding it up so he could compare. “See? It’s way lighter than the front.”

Kaoru sighed. “Do whatever you want.”

“I want you to be happy with it,” Kojiro said with a shake of his head. “Otherwise you’re just gonna bitch to me every chance you get for the next two weeks.”

“How do you even notice things like this?” Kaoru said in disbelief. 

Kojiro laughed. “What, you think I don’t watch you? As if I wouldn’t notice when we’ve been doing this for so long. If your fangirls see it, then I definitely do. I’m not dense.”

“I’ve yet to see much evidence to the contrary.”

“Watch it—”

“Make me, you brainless ape—”

“Not smart to pick on the guy who’s in charge of keeping your hair pretty, you know.”

Kaoru threw up his hands in defeat. “Just get started, would you? We’re going to need to rinse yours soon.”

“Fine.”

Kaoru breathed a faint, contented sigh as Kojiro’s fingers combed through his hair again, deftly separating it into sections and clipping them up. Despite appearances, he really could be quite skillful with his hands when he wanted to be. There was little about Kojiro’s muscular silhouette that suggested finesse; his body screamed power but it also implied clumsiness. He used it to his advantage when he skated. Kaoru had seen many people make the mistake of underestimating him based on appearances. 

The dye was cold against his scalp. Kaoru frowned, knitting his brow, as Kojiro methodically worked it through his hair.

“You could always get this done at a salon, you know,” Kojiro said offhandedly as he painted, not taking his eyes off the brush. “I know you can afford it.”

“My work schedule is demanding. I don’t know any salons that are reliably open past midnight.”

“You set your own hours, idiot.” Kojiro shook his head. “There’ve gotta be people out there better at this than me.”

“Probably,” Kaoru admitted. “This is the way we’ve always done it, though. Do you really want to stop?”

“Course not.” Kojiro grabbed the next section of hair, working the dye through it. 

“Why try to talk me out of it, then?”

“I’m just thinking out loud.”

Several minutes passed in silence as Kojiro methodically painted pink dye through Kaoru’s hair in sections. Kaoru watched in the mirror, studying his expression, frowning slightly at his own reflection. This was always the worst part of it. His hair plastered hideously to his scalp, highlighting all the things he disliked about his own face. Emphasizing the dark hollows under his eyes, near-permanent now from so many years of late nights and early mornings. 

Kojiro’s reflection yawned as he daubed the brush against Kaoru’s roots. It was poor consolation, but he didn’t look much better. Kaoru studied the wrinkle in his brow fondly. That moronic expression, the all-too-familiar one Kojiro always made when he was straining his brain by trying to think too hard. 

“All done,” Kojiro said, dropping the plastic bowl on the counter with a clatter. 

Kaoru winced in irritation, but said nothing of the flecks of dye that splattered outside the bowl’s rim. He stood, taking care to hold onto the towel that was draped around his shoulders to protect his clothing, and dragged the chair over to the bathtub. 

“Come on. It’s probably too dark already.”

Kojiro sat, sprawling out and leaning his head back over the tub’s basin. Kaoru shook his head as he twisted the knob, waiting for the water to heat. Knowing Kojiro, he’d be asleep in under a minute. He was the kind of person that could sleep anywhere, no matter what was happening around him. Kaoru envied him that, sometimes. 

He let the water heat past the point of discomfort before taking the nozzle off its hook and starting to rinse. 

“Hey—” Kojiro yelped, startling awake, “watch it, would you?”

“If you’re going to make me do this, the least you can do is do me the courtesy of staying awake.”

“It’s late,” Kojiro lamented.

“You should have thought of that before you barged into my house.”

“I called first, you know.”

“And why I answered is beyond my understanding.” Kaoru massaged Kojiro’s scalp with his free hand, rinsing rivulets of seaweed-green dye down the drain. When he was satisfied all of it was gone, he set the nozzle aside and squirted several pumps of his own expensive conditioner into his palm, working it through Kojiro’s hair. 

Kojiro hummed contentedly. “That feels nice.”

“Don’t get used to it.” Kaoru rinsed his hands and sat on the edge of the tub, letting the conditioner sit. “Green doesn’t suit you, you know.”

“Oh?” Kojiro cracked one eye open. 

“It clashes with all of your clothes.” Kaoru folded his arms disapprovingly. 

Kojiro shrugged. “The ladies don’t seem to mind.”

“That’s not a positive, you muscle-bound gorilla,” Kaoru snapped, flicking him hard in the cheek.

Swearing, Kojiro rubbed at the mark. “What the hell, Kaoru?”

“If you drip dye on my floor, I’m going to strangle you.” Kaoru reached out to turn the water back on. “Lie back.”

He rinsed Kojiro’s hair once more, combing through the strands with his fingers much harder than was necessary, until he was satisfied everything had been washed out. 

“You’re done,” he said flatly, turning off the water. “Get up.”

Kojiro yawned and stretched, getting to his feet. “Your turn, four-eyes.”

Biting back a scathing remark, Kaoru sat, letting his hair dangle over the basin. Kojiro began rinsing without commentary, humming tunelessly to himself as he washed the dye away. Kaoru never would have admitted it, but he liked that about him. Kojiro was never quiet. In the kitchen he was controlled chaos, blaring music so loudly that his servers could hardly shout orders over it. Kaoru preferred this softer side of him by far. The fact that he was completely tone-deaf didn’t matter. It was the familiarity of the sound that made it soothing. 

Kojiro massaged a palmful of conditioner through his hair. 

“I like this stuff a lot better than mine,” he admitted, combing it in with his fingers. 

“You could buy a bottle, you know.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Kojiro laughed. “I know what it costs. Too rich for my blood.”

“So you come over here to use mine?” 

“It smells like you.”

Heat rose to Kaoru’s face at the directness of the statement, at how Kojiro could say something like that so matter-of-factly. It always seemed so easy for him. 

He kept his eyes shut. “...idiot.”

Kojiro laughed again. “And what does that make you?”

Kaoru opened his mouth to retort, but never got the chance. Kojiro’s warm lips pressed against his own, soft and lingering, stifled his shocked intake of air. He softened into it, kissing him back, the fight going out of him in an instant despite Kojiro’s hair dripping cold water onto his forehead. 

They broke apart, and Kaoru opened his eyes to find Kojiro grinning like a moron.

“Idiot,” he repeated, more gently. 

Kojiro ignored the insult, looking down at Kaoru with heavily lidded eyes. “I miss your lip ring,” he remarked, rubbing the spot where it would have been with his thumb. 

“I haven’t worn it for six years.”

“I know,” Kojiro said, frowning. “We never kissed back then, though. I wonder what it felt like…”

Kaoru’s face burned. He kicked at Kojiro’s shin and missed. “Just—finish rinsing my hair, would you?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“It’s too late for this tonight,” Kojiro groaned. “I told you, I have clients in the morning.” 

“And I have to open. Never stopped you before.”

“I’m getting old.”

“We’re the same age, _Cherry.”_

Kojiro was gentle as he washed the last of the conditioner from Kaoru’s hair, taking care not to pull as he worked through the tangles. “What time is it, anway?”

Kaoru sighed. “Carla?”

On the counter, his phone chimed. “3:17 A.M.”

Kojiro whistled through his teeth. “Yeah, my bad.”

“Are you staying over?” Kaoru sat up as Kojiro rinsed the tub’s basin, making sure all of the residual dye had been washed down the drain.

“Are you offering?”

“On the condition that you make me breakfast in the morning. I want grilled fish, and egg rice.”

Kojiro sighed wearily. “You drive a hard bargain.”

“Don’t forget the tea,” Kaoru added, wrapping his dripping hair in a towel and heading off in the direction of the bedroom. 

“Matcha or genmaicha?” Kojiro called after him.

“What do you think?”

Faintly, he could hear Kojiro swearing. 

Kneeling to prepare the futon, Kaoru smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Ummm SK8 is ruining my life? The kind of casual comfortable intimacy Kaoru and Kojiro have with each other makes me want to cry. I listened to Mr. Loverman on loop for over an hour working on this. When will my buff skater boyfriend tenderly wash my hair while he tells me how much he likes me?


End file.
